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Giving Tuesday: 6 Mistakes to Avoid When Giving to Charity

4. Mistaking a charity’s identity. There are thousands of charities and many have similar names, but different missions and track records.

Consider the sound-alikes Children’s Charity Fund and Children’s Defense Fund. Charity Navigator gives Children’s Charity Fund zero stars (for spending 85 percent of its expenses on fundraising, not having independent voting members on its board and failing to make its tax return public, among other things), but bestows three stars to Children’s Defense Fund (the group spends just 6 percent of its expenses on fundraising, has independent board members and makes its tax return public).

5. Assuming a charity wants any item you donate. This is a particular problem after natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy, when appeals go out for clothing, blankets and food. I know that after Sandy hit, my email inbox was flooded with pleas from neighbors to drop off unwanted coats at a nearby school.

But both BBB and Charity Navigator say such donations are not always practical or efficient. Few groups are set up to receive goods, much less organize and distribute them in a disaster area. Similarly, new charities that spring up to deal with a local disaster may not have the infrastructure to accept and distribute items.

If you really want to be useful after a disaster, Charity Navigator suggests you select an existing organization with a proven track record dealing with similar crises that is already set up in the geographic region you want to help.

6. Overdiversifying your donation dollars. Diversification may be a smart investing strategy, but spreading your money among many philanthropic endeavors isn’t a great idea, Minuitti says. For one thing, it’ll lead to an avalanche of appeals filling your mailbox.

More important, the processing expenses for the gifts can severely reduce the chance that the groups can effect substantive change with your donations. That’s especially true if you give through social-media sites, since they often set low donation suggestions of $5 to $50, but may charge processing fees on those contributions, according to a MarketWatch article by Kelli B. Grant.

Instead, select a small number of well-run charities engaged in causes you care about then “stick with them over the long term,” Miniutti says. “You’ll get a bigger bang for your bucks.”

Caroline Mayer is a blogger for Next Avenue and a veteran consumer reporter. She spent 25 years working for The Washington Post, covering such issues as product safety, scams, and credit cards. Mayer has received several awards, including the Betty Furness Consumer Media Service Award. She has written for Consumer Reports, CBS MoneyWatch, Ladies Home Journal, Kaiser Health News and others. Follow her on Twitter @consumermayer

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Angels with Faith Ministries & Church, a 501c3 non-profit charity in Georgia accepts & needs donated property, land, homes, mobile homes on lots, forclosure homes, etc, all donations are tax deductible for FULL market value for up to 5 years! If you have a home, property etc that you have inherited, one you owe tons of taxes on, that is in foreclosure, one that needs work, even if it needs total remodeling, land that you never use & are tired of paying taxes on, rental homes that you are tired of dealing with & paying taxes on, get out from under that money pit & get a tax deduction , our fiscal year runs from Febraury to February so all donations until the end of February still receive a 2012 donation receipt & you get a voucher for an up to 7 day cruise for 2 on Carnival or Royal caribbean that includes food and a 3 day 2 night mini vacation for a family of 4 that includes 2 adult theme park passes with every donation. 100% of all donations to our charity go directly to helping families in crisis, need or after disasters & also military families & 1000s of children at Christmas time. Our Charity/Church I also in dire need of donated land in the North Georgia area ( anywhere within an hour of Winder, GA 30680 where we are located now) we have outgrown our small home based rental home from which we run our charity & Church for the past 4 years, we need enough land to have a place to run teh charity & Church, to place donated mobile homes etc to house homeless families temporarily & hopefully a pond for fishing to build our Youth Camp on for underpriviliged & at risk youth & teens, it can have dwellings & buildings already in place(no matter what condition) or be empty land but we cannot grow & help 1000s more families & children withjout a bigger place. Thank you & God Bless, please visit our websites at http://angelswithfaithministries.beep.com & http://angelswithfaithministries.org EIN 27-1972461 for more information or contact Lori Tuck, director at 678-754-1541 or Rev Michael Tuck at 678-754-2337 or email at angelswithfaithministriesgeorgia@yahoo.com We also accept & pickup donated Vehicles, cars, trucks, Rvs, campers, Boats, lawnmowers, ATVs, etc in any condition & of any kind & household needs, furniture, working appliances, baby&childrens needs, clothing, used carpet, cabinets, counter tops etc, computers of any kind, electronics etc GET THOSE DONATIONS IN TO US BY THE END OF OUR FISCAL YEAR ON FEB 28th & get your current year tax deductions.